


On the move

by Miraphina Atherton (mew_tsubaki)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, One-Sided Relationship, Pre-Marauders Era (Harry Potter), or is it B)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 15:01:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20837453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mew_tsubaki/pseuds/Miraphina%20Atherton
Summary: The Fat Lady didn't always guard the Gryffindor territory. She had another favorite place...





	On the move

**Author's Note:**

> The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. Read, review, and enjoy! *Note: The prompts of "lights" and "climbing" came from xXKissingSinXx's "100 Prompts" challenge in the HPFC. Originally written for SkyeElf, for Xmas 2011.

Back in the old days, the Fat Lady liked traveling more. Of course, back in _those_ days, Hogwarts students actually dressed in robes and wore them properly, and boys were called "gents" and girls were called "ladies." Back in those days, things had been much different.

Take, for instance, the faculty of the school. There was a handsome middle-aged man by the name of Cuthbert Binns teaching History of Magic. The Fat Lady hated hearing students complain about him, but she knew they didn't understand his character.

"Back again, my good lady?" Binns teased when she entered the portrait outside the door to his office.

"Good afternoon, professor," she said. She couldn't help tittering at the sight of his smile. She quite loved it so.

His black eyes were so warm and kind. "'Tis a good day outside. Have you seen the weather today?"

"Yes, I have, in a friend's portrait opposite a window. That sun is lively and bright…" Her voice faltered, and she was overwhelmed with the desire to escape her two-dimensional boundary. "I…I do wish I could see the lights of the sun and stars and Moon again."

"You can."

"Yes, but not as you can," the Fat Lady replied. She frowned and looked at his face, memorizing every detail. It was the least she could do, because she tried to memorize this face every day; her mind didn't have the capacity for much anymore since becoming nothing but a painting.

But Binns didn't treat her like a painting. He spoke with her and humored her as though she were alive again and standing before him, so close…and yet so far away.

"You must forgive my musings," the image finally said. "I am afraid that whilst I can no longer recall some of my favorite things, I can just as ever become easily entwined in thought."

"No apology required," the wizard said. "But do forgive me—I shan't be able to have a chat over tea yet as I must pay a visit to a colleague up several floors."

"Oh. Then…may I join you?"

Binns smiled gently again, and the Fat Lady liked to think that that smile was meant only for her. "By all means." And so he climbed the stairs, his admirer gliding from frame to frame to keep up with him. Every time she slowed…he paused, so she could catch up. And, even when she switched places with Sir Cadogan to guard the Gryffindor territory, he would still wait until she could join him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Ooh, this has actually given me another idea for them, set in the time he was alive… YAY, PLOT BUNNIES! 8D Anywho, I think it'd be cool if we knew what Lady had been like before becoming a portrait… Ooh, that might now be another idea… XD This one's for you, Skye-fye. Have a very Happy Christmas, luv. :}
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew-tsubaki :D
> 
> 2017 note: Okay. So. I panicked for a second, rereading my 2011 closing A/N, but I think I do in fact recall that other idea for Ladybinns, *lol*. I just. I rather like the idea of at least one person not finding Binns boring. XD


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